Ceanothus cuneatus
Ceanothus diversifolius
buck brush, common buckbrush, narrow-leaf buckthorn, sedge-leaf buckthorn, wedgeleaf cuneatus
pine mat
spreading, sometimes rooting at nodes;
branchlets green, sometimes tinged red, not thorn-tipped, usually round, sometimes angled, in cross section, flexible, puberulent.
usually both fascicled and not fascicled on same plant, rarely none fascicled;
petiole 1–3 mm;
blade flat to cupped, elliptic, oblanceolate, obovate, or orbiculate, 4–22(–30) × 3–12(–22) mm, base rounded, margins thick, not revolute, entire or denticulate distal to middle, teeth 0–9, apex obtuse, rounded, truncate, or retuse, abaxial surface pale green, glabrate or glabrous, adaxial surface green, glabrous.
petiole 3–11 mm;
blade flat, elliptic to widely ovate, 12–45 × 6–20 mm, base obtuse to rounded, margins serrulate to denticulate, not revolute, usually not wavy, sometimes wavy, teeth 27–42, apex ± obtuse to rounded, abaxial surface pale green, pilosulous, adaxial surface green, pilosulous; usually pinnately veined, rarely 3-veined from base.
axillary or terminal, 0.8–2.5 cm.
axillary, umbel-like to racemelike, 1.3–4 cm.
sepals, petals, and nectary white to lavender or blue.
sepals, petals, and nectary usually blue to pale blue, rarely white.
4–6 mm wide, weakly lobed;
valves smooth, horns subapical, prominent, erect, intermediate ridges absent.
4–5 mm wide, weakly lobed near apex;
valves smooth, crested.
Ceanothus cuneatus
Ceanothus diversifolius
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Ceanothus diversifolius occurs in the North Coast Ranges and the western slopes of the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada; it often forms mats to two meters wide. Marginal teeth on young leaves are notable in having more or less persistent, narrowly conic glands, not seen elsewhere in Ceanothus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blades of fascicled and non-fascicled leaves elliptic to widely oblanceolate, length usually 2+ times width; sepals, petals, and nectaries usually white, sometimes pale blue or pale lavender. | var. cuneatus |
1. Leaf blades of fascicled and non-fascicled leaves widely oblanceolate, widely obovate, or orbiculate, length usually less than 2 times width, or of fascicled leaves elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate (in var. fascicularis); sepals, petals, and nectaries usually lavender to blue, sometimes pale blue, rarely white. | → 2 |
2. Leaf blades of fascicled leaves elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate, 9–15 × 3–6 mm, length usually 2+ times width. | var. fascicularis |
2. Leaf blades of fascicled leaves widely oblanceolate, widely obovate, or orbiculate, 4–15 × 3–12 mm, length less than 2 times width. | → 3 |
3. Leaf blade margins usually entire, rarely 1–4-toothed, apices rounded, truncate, or retuse. | var. ramulosus |
3. Leaf blade margins 5–9-toothed, apices rounded to truncate. | var. rigidus |
CA
OR
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
